Putting verbal offers in.

[starrychime]

Trying to find a house to buy. Have a mortgage advisor through work (he's available for staff and relatives etc) and he's put me in touch with a solicitor (obviously they have some sort of agreement that he'll refer folk to said solicitor but as I don't have a 'personal' solicitor I figure that's fine, will need one anyway so might as well go with him). Solicitor said he only charges for work done on an accepted offer.
Anyway, have seen a couple of houses and have offered lower than asking price and didn't get them. I've been going to see the houses, phoning mortgage guy to tell him I want to offer, he phones solicitor. Solicitor phones me to discuss and then phones estate agent to offer. Then solicitor gets back to me with response.
So saw another house and called mortgage guy. After looking at it he said there wasn't much point as it was 'offers over' and I was looking to offer 5k under. Turns out he would have been right as they have now raised the price to a fixed price 10k more than before. Also advised that solicitor might start charging if I put too many bids in that were obviously going to be unsuccessful. So that's fine, am now looking for something that I can actually go to the asking price for if necessary.
After that long story, my actual question is, do I actually need a solicitor to put a verbal offer in? If estate agent calls and says how did the viewing go can I just say, yes but I can only go to x amount? Then they can go and talk to the vendor and if they will consider it I can then go back to solicitor and tell him I might have a chance at the price I want to offer?

yes, you don't need a solicitor just to put an offer in. You do the offer directly to the vendor's estate agent.

I'm honestly not sure what the solicitor is doing in this situation. Who is paying for his time at the moment? Is he an in-house solicitor for your company? There is absolutely no requirement for him to be making the offers on your behalf. In fact, you might be better off making them yourself as the estate agent can gauge your interest/seriousness for himself, unless the solicitor is very familiar with your situation, finances, readiness to move etc. Are you sure the mortgage adviser is getting you the best deal? Just because he is available through work doesn't necessarily mean that you couldn't get a better deal elsewhere. Same with the solicitor - has he given you an indication of his fees if you do use him for conveyancing?

When offers are verbal, you should make them directly to the estate agent.

Only after all the negotiation and the offer has been verbally accepted by the vendors, should you then bring in the solicitor to start the process of getting the documents from the vendor's solicitor.

Estate Agents will always ask you "what is the maximum you can spend" - don't tell them the maximum amount, as you can bet they'll tell the vendor to ask for that. Always answer the question with "I believe the property is worth x" - where x is your offer amount. Don't forget that this is a negotiation, and while you may feel you're in the disadvantaged position because you really like the property, don't forget that the vendor is in an equally keen position to find a buyer. In this market, I will use your advantage as being a buyer to make lower offers, and if rejected, to let the vendor sweat a bit before raising.

Are you in Scotland or UK?

I was a mortgage advisor up until a couple of years ago in UK and I have never heard of a solicitor negotitating a price with the Estate Agent on a clients behalf. Normally the purchaser will negotiate through the Estate Agent.

I would also seek purely independant advice if I were you, and ask around for a recommended conveyancing solicitor in your area as this sounds odd.

I think you're in Scotland form what you say and n England we offer through the EA but through a solicitor in Scotland, no?